Research On The Tax Payment Obligation

Since the 19th century, the scale of each country's governmental financial expenditure and income in the world has expanded gradually, and the tax revenue is the main way for government to collect financial revenue. Therefore, each government has established laws explicitly for tax payment obligation, and the tax payment obligation becomes a basic obligation that each citizen has to assume and perform in the modern society.However, the performance of the tax payment obligation is to unilaterally transfer citizen's treasures to the government without compensation directly to taxpayer, for which tax payment obligation seem a sort of burden on citizen imposed by government merely. Then, why does the citizen have to assume and perform assorted tax payment obligations? This question is really about the establishment foundation of the tax payment obligation. To answer this question, some tax law shcolars are apt to adopt the theory of modern public finance - Public Product Theory, so a viewpoint has been formed which the academic community approves. It claims that public product is requisite to the society , however, such factors as effect inseparability, consumption non-competitiveness, benefit non-exclusiveness result in that public product can not be supplied under the market mechanism. Whereas, government is the best and ideal supplier of such product, so government should assume the duty concerned, while the required funds hereby ought to be raised from all of citizens in the mode of taxation, in accordance with which, public product that government supplys is the establishment foundation for the tax payment obligation assumption and performance by citizens.Nevertheless, the concluded point is not deficient. First, all tax revenue may not be actually spent on public product supplyed by government. When tax payment obligation have been performed, what will guarantee that the government will loyally realize the stated purpose? In the real life, there is the phenomenon that public funds are actually wasted and abused by government, while the investment on public product is usually not sufficient. Secondly, social security expenditure is not for public product. Although accounting for a large part in all governmental expenditure structures, social security expenditure is from the governmental public funds transferred to some citizens but not on public product.Based on reflective thinking about these in question, the author considers that right is responsible to reason tax payment obligation establishment foundation. For each person, right is of vital significance and values, but all of rights depend on the practice of governmental public power and the expenditure of public funds. Rights can be divided by subject of the obligation into the rights taking government as obigor and the rights taking private person as obligor. Among the first kind rights, those taking government as positive obligor, such as the right to education or the social security right, evidently will cost governmental public funds; those taking government as negative obligor, such as the right against inquisition by torture, apparently require governmental passive omission and will not take any governmental public funds, but to initiate governmental passive omission, other governmental authorities will have to exercise control and relief which as a matter of fact will require government to act, therefore, such rights certainly cost governments public funds also; those taking private person as obligor are designed for individually defined private people and require their act or omission, seemingly indicating the relationship on rights and liabilities among private people and are independent of governments, but the expected esteem to and the successful implementation of such rights can not get away from surveillance on obligors by public power as well as rectification and punishment to all sorts of potential right infringement behaviors. So these rights still have to rely on public power, which undoubtedly will cost public funds.Concluded based on the discussion above, all rights are directly or indirectly dependent on public power and in turn on public funds. Hereby, to enjoy and exercise right, the citizen has to assume tax payment obligation imposed by the government to esteem, protect and promote the right actualization.After tax payment obligation having been performed, which mechanism will prompt governments to spend the tax revenue on the stated purpose? The answer is the relief right the citizens enjoy, since each effective right certainly contains legal remedy mechanism against infringement. All rights in question infringed, obligees may exercise relief in such ways as of instituting administrative reconsideration, exercising the right to litigate, the right to appeal, or the right of complaint. Furthermore, the relief right is remedial itselves and has further relief mechanism. Herewith, right together with relief form fiscal restraints on government and determine the uses of public funds consisted of tax revenue. In a word, it is right that constitute the tax payment obligation establishment foundation.For this conclusion, a question that can not be evaded is the asymmetry relationship between right enjoyed by and tax payment obligation assumed by citizen. Right is the establishment foundation of tax payment obligation and to esteem, protect and actively actualize citizen's right of the soundness of taxation, however, specified from a macrocosmic aspect, the relationship between government and citizen is studied by taking all citizens as a unit. This logic having been adopted to weigh the relationship between an individual citizen and the government, it is found that whether he/she enjoys right is not related to whether he/she has assumed and performed tax payment obligation and so do the extent of right enjoyed to that of tax payment obligation assumed, which will result in that the government may protect the right of some citizens as imposing tax payment obligation on others. Here, the conclusion above is weakened to some extent, so it is necessary to clarify.First of all, the assumption and performance of tax payment obligation is universal. In modern society, many citizens are engaged in several economic activities.Although some citizens do not need to performance the tax payment for some economic activity, but they must performance the tax payment for some other economic activity.Many countries give priority to indirect taxes, the transfer ability of which imposes tax payment obligation almost on all social members. Then, the enjoyment and exercising of right has a spillover effect. When some citizens enjoy and exercise some rights, it is these obligees that enjoy the largest and most direct interests, but the beneficial group hereon still includes other social members only benefiting in different forms, from different contents and at different levels. Consequently, from a microcosmic aspect, the assumption of tax payment obligation and the enjoyment of right is impartial in some degree.